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Russian attacks mean I sleep in a metro station

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  Vertical Video Creator Nastia Kasinchuk The Kyiv Independent Dear Kyiv Independent readers, I'm Nastia Kasinchuk, a video creator at the Kyiv Independent. I live and work in Kyiv, and lately there have been nights when my bed has been the floor of the nearest metro station. In case you missed it, I'm sending this email again to explain why this is the case. No, I'm not homeless; I pay rent every month for an apartment in central Kyiv. But when the threat of a mass Russian missile and drone attack is high, going underground feels like the safest choice. And I'm far from the only person making that decision. Russia has been attacking Kyiv since day one of the full-scale invasion. But in 2026, those attacks changed dramatically. Here at the Kyiv Independent, we keep you informed on all the latest updates from Kyiv and Russia's war against Ukraine. As a reader-funded publication, we can only do this with the support of our members. Click below to see how you, too, can...

The air attack that hit an oil refinery in Moscow

  The air attack hit an oil refinery in Moscow, contradicting President Donald Trump's claim that Ukraine and Russia had agreed to halt strikes on energy targets. By Mary Ilyushina and Natalia Abbakumova The Washington Post September 21, 2026 at 8:23 a.m. JB: Original article contains images; the underlining and colering below are my own. Items shown in three paragraphs below were enlarged in ways that were not my own (nor, as far as I could tell, of the original article). As the first parliamentary elections in Russia since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine delivered a scripted victory on Sunday to Vladimir Putin, Ukraine pummeled the Moscow region with drones and missiles, hitting a key oil refinery and showing that winning the war remains out of reach for the Russian leader. The Ukrainian air attack, one of its largest on Russia’s capital area, killed at least three people, local officials said, and damaged the refinery in Kapotnya, on Moscow’s southeastern edge, which supplies a lar...

Across Ukraine, at least 13 minors are imprisoned after being paid by Russia to attack their own country.

Yaroslav Suzanskyi, 18, at a juvenile correctional facility in Kremenchuk, Ukraine, in July. He was sentenced after being recruited by Russia to attack his own country.   Photos by Serhiy Morgunov/For The Washington Post By Serhiy Morgunov The Washington Post Today [ jb - Sept 20 ] [at 5:00 a.m. EDT/8 min] Article contains additional photographs The Washington Post KREMENCHUK, Ukraine — Yaroslav Suzanskyi was 16 when he saw an ad on the Telegram messaging app offering “easy money,” about $165, to do an odd job. It turned out to be a want-ad for sabotage: Suzanskyi was paid to set fire to a railway relay cabinet. Now 18, Suzanskyi is incarcerated at a juvenile correctional colony, both a perpetrator and a victim of a hidden part of Russia’s war against Ukraine: recruiting vulnerable young people to attack their own country. He is one of eight inmates at Kremenchuk — in a population of 72 — convicted of national security or public safety offenses linked to Russia. Many of the chil...

Trump Gets New Power Against Putin

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  A new sanctions bill is meant to pressure President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia to end the war in Ukraine. But President Trump is doubling down on a different approach: offering enticements to Russia. President Trump shaking hands with President Vladimir Putin of Russia during their meeting in Alaska last year. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times By Anton Troianovski Reporting from Washington and Kyiv, Ukraine The New York Times Published Sept. 17, 2026 Updated Sept. 18, 2026, 6:45 p.m. ET Oiginal article contains links When President Trump’s envoys sat down with Vladimir V. Putin at the Kremlin this month, the Russian leader exuded confidence. Within months, he said, Russian troops would finally capture Ukraine’s entire Donbas region. And Russia was poised to pummel Ukraine’s electricity grid, setting the stage for a miserable winter. Then one of the envoys, Jared Kushner, tried to push back. With all due respect, you told us exactly that a year ago, Mr. Kushner said to the ...